42 
ISLAN 7 D OF PATMOS. 
CHAP. MCCGCXCIV. a beautiful copy. At the extre- 
mity of this chamber, which is opposite to the 
window, a considerable number of old volumes 
of parchment, some with covers and some with- 
out, were heaped upon the floor, in the utmost 
disorder; and there were evident proofs that 
these had been cast aside, and condemned to 
answer any purpose for which the parchment 
might-be required. When we asked the Supe- 
rior what they were ? he replied, turning up his 
nose with an expression of indifference and 
contempt, Xg/^oyfapa! It was, indeed, a mo- 
ment in which a literary traveller might be 
supposed to doubt the evidence of his senses ; 
for the whole of this contemned heap consisted 
entirely of Greek Manuscripts, and some of 
them were of the highest antiquity. We sought 
in vain for the Manuscript of Homer, said to 
have been copied by a student from Cos, and 
alluded to upon a former occasion 1 . We even 
ventured to ask the ignorant monks, if they had 
ever heard of the existence of such a relic in 
their library. The Bursar 9 maintained that he 
Manu- 
scripts. 
(1) See Vol. HI. Cb.VII. p. 263. Octavo Edition. 
(2) Paul Ricaut has well described the state in which we found the 
Patmos Library ; and also mentions this office of Bursar, whose 
business it is to take care of the books. " Every monastery hatli 
its library of books, which are kept in a lofty tower, under the 
custody 
